Helpful Score: 5
Multiply storylines in this totally fun chick-lit version of Heaven. Who would have thought that God is a woman who sounds just like Bette Midler. Where all of life's lessons can be found in the lyrics of 5 Beatles songs and where you can watch the lives of earthlings on TV including hot Hollywood actors in the shower.
I didn't know that Heaven could be such a hoot, but with Skye Sebring as a greeter in the Hospitality Department of Heaven you just never know what she and her friends will be up to next. Skye is summoned to her cubicle one day to meet Ryan Blaine, known to his friends and ex-presidential father as Bad Boy Blaine for his handsome playboy ways. When Ryan is whisked back out of Skye's office as quickly as he appeared Skye uses the Early Pleasures TV channel, think Reality TV â" Heaven style, to see what is going on with Ryan.
This fun romp takes a couple of twists, mostly involving Ryan's wife Susan who herself had a brush with death, and looks surprisingly like Skye. But with Susan's strange behavior after her accident and Ryan's memories of Skye, things turn on a dime when the Hot Dog Hag makes a startling discovery.
Sounds confusing, but Neches weaves the multiple storylines, some that I haven't even mentioned here, in a delightful way that keeps you turning the pages and laughing way into the night.
I didn't know that Heaven could be such a hoot, but with Skye Sebring as a greeter in the Hospitality Department of Heaven you just never know what she and her friends will be up to next. Skye is summoned to her cubicle one day to meet Ryan Blaine, known to his friends and ex-presidential father as Bad Boy Blaine for his handsome playboy ways. When Ryan is whisked back out of Skye's office as quickly as he appeared Skye uses the Early Pleasures TV channel, think Reality TV â" Heaven style, to see what is going on with Ryan.
This fun romp takes a couple of twists, mostly involving Ryan's wife Susan who herself had a brush with death, and looks surprisingly like Skye. But with Susan's strange behavior after her accident and Ryan's memories of Skye, things turn on a dime when the Hot Dog Hag makes a startling discovery.
Sounds confusing, but Neches weaves the multiple storylines, some that I haven't even mentioned here, in a delightful way that keeps you turning the pages and laughing way into the night.
Helpful Score: 4
Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com
"All you need is love, love. Love is all you need." -- Lyrics to a very famous song by The Beatles.
This is the fifth easy lesson of the world's five greatest philosophers. The first four are also Beatles songs. I laughed when I read this but I think that Karen Neches has something there.
The story of EARTHLY PLEASURES is about an angel--or soul--named Skye Sebring, who is a hospitality greeter inside Heaven. She greets and helps orientate the souls of the newly departed. The objective of many of the angels in heaven is to get back down to Earth, but not Skye. She loves being in Heaven and working with the newly departed. I would, too.
The citizens of Heaven have Wishberrys which grant their every wish, can make their own schedules, and they are very peaceful. But in walks Ryan Blaine, the son of a former president of the United States. He comes into Skye's blissful life and now she is obsessed with him. He can't stay in Heaven and returns to his earthly body. Now how is Skye going to be with him while she is in heaven and he is on Earth?
This was a light read but oh so fun. Heaven is a funny place to be yet exactly where many of us would like to one day end up. But the fun thing about this book is that it has so many characters that tie into each other and you don't know it until you are about three-quarters of the way through the story. I also couldn't predict the ending. I had a general idea, but there were so many surprises that I was blown away. I want you to know that I stayed up late (for me) on a school night to finish this book, so that in itself tells you how much I enjoyed it.
Remember that all anyone needs is love!
"All you need is love, love. Love is all you need." -- Lyrics to a very famous song by The Beatles.
This is the fifth easy lesson of the world's five greatest philosophers. The first four are also Beatles songs. I laughed when I read this but I think that Karen Neches has something there.
The story of EARTHLY PLEASURES is about an angel--or soul--named Skye Sebring, who is a hospitality greeter inside Heaven. She greets and helps orientate the souls of the newly departed. The objective of many of the angels in heaven is to get back down to Earth, but not Skye. She loves being in Heaven and working with the newly departed. I would, too.
The citizens of Heaven have Wishberrys which grant their every wish, can make their own schedules, and they are very peaceful. But in walks Ryan Blaine, the son of a former president of the United States. He comes into Skye's blissful life and now she is obsessed with him. He can't stay in Heaven and returns to his earthly body. Now how is Skye going to be with him while she is in heaven and he is on Earth?
This was a light read but oh so fun. Heaven is a funny place to be yet exactly where many of us would like to one day end up. But the fun thing about this book is that it has so many characters that tie into each other and you don't know it until you are about three-quarters of the way through the story. I also couldn't predict the ending. I had a general idea, but there were so many surprises that I was blown away. I want you to know that I stayed up late (for me) on a school night to finish this book, so that in itself tells you how much I enjoyed it.
Remember that all anyone needs is love!
Helpful Score: 3
I wanted to like this book, really I did. But parts of it were downright silly, so I had a hard time with that. There is a clever idea in here, a modern view of heaven, and how it works like a business, with intakes, evaluations and adjustment sessions, with a CEO (read the Supreme Being) overlooking it all; but some of it was too cute-Wishberrys instead of Blackberrys, and TV where you could âwatch' earth. In this almost cloying sweetness there was the germ of a good mystery, and all the strands of storylines introduced earlier all came together in a neat conclusion, but too many characters from the earlier parts of the book just disappeared, and complete happily ever after never seems real to me. Not bad, good for a couple of days diversion, but in the long run just fluff.
